


Character Study

by Frangipanidownunder



Category: The X-Files
Genre: F/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-06-14
Updated: 2017-06-14
Packaged: 2018-11-14 04:30:22
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,005
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11200467
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Frangipanidownunder/pseuds/Frangipanidownunder
Summary: For @allyinthekeyofx and her headcanon:  Season 11 Scully moves back in to the unremarkable house and William snaps an unexpected photo of them when he walks in to Mulder’s home office.





	Character Study

The last time she was in this room the floor was a mess of papers, scraps of notes, complex codes scrawled diagonally, grotesque drawings, random lines of poetry, photos ripped or curled or burnt, maps with dotted lines or flags or circles scrawled around anonymous towns, letters, some of them love letters, some the desperate ramblings of a brilliant mind lost to the cause or losing the battle. Mulder’s office. His place of refuge had become a sort of no-man’s-land where neither of them gave an inch and there could be no armistice.  
Now, she found herself stepping over a threshold once more. She seemed to have history in this department. She was always walking through doorways, either after him or away from him. This time she was determined that the doorway would lead to a life spent right by his side. Seeing his office uncluttered – neither by the gatherings of a quest indomitable, nor by the detritus of brilliance declining – was the best of starts.  
People talk about a clean break, but that was not what happened here. It was dirty, the edges of things lost in the wake of two lives no longer in parallel. It was splintered and uneven and shredded. There was nothing clean about leaving Mulder. She had felt sullied for years. Maybe she always would. But the office, his nucleus, the heart and soul of him, there was a clarity here now, beyond the clean surfaces and shiny new laptop.  
When Mulder made a commitment, he really dug in. He’d repainted the weatherboards. Fixed the flyscreens. Changed the curtains and blinds. He’d even rolled up the faded old carpet runner in the hall, she’d found it in the shed out the back, and in its place was a bright rug in a contemporary print. It was remarkable what a little love and attention could do.  
And what having William home could do.  
It was still new, this being a family.  
The virus had left Mulder a breath away from death. How often had she wondered, if that breath had been stolen from him, would she have been as stoic without him for a second time? With no life growing in her, there was little to be stoic for. But when Mulder made a commitment, he really dug in. He came back to her breath by painful breath; he was all fluttering eyelids and trembling fingers and code blues. She was all hand squeezing and mattress thumping and midnight tears. Drama at hospital bedsides had become their bizarre theatre over the years.  
And William. His tentative presence through their unfolding narrative was at once a comfort and a tragedy. What demons would he bear? He was the knight in shining armour, the hero of the hour, the literal life-donor for his father. How would he carry that burden? It was a question she asked daily and now she would be able to find out the answer. He was living with them. He was living with them. It was such an odd sensation to think it, to say, that it was worth mentioning twice.  
It hardly seemed real when Mulder carried his backpack through the door. He’d looked around, shaken his head and said, ‘so this is home’.  
Mulder had grinned and countered with an in-joke, ‘is it better than you expected, or better than you hoped?’  
William shrugged and Scully shook her head at her feet and so it began.

She was researching an old case, something about spirit beings and ghost-eyed peoples, when Mulder came in.  
‘I remember that case, Scully. The Appalachians, people freezing to death. Ciladaids.’  
She flipped the laptop shut. ‘I remember you being a self-absorbed jerk on that case. In fact, for that entire year, Mulder.’  
‘Your inability to see the forest for the trees was staggering, as I recall. You took skepticism to code-red level.’  
She chuffed. ‘You certainly knew how to push my buttons.’  
He walked behind her and his hands kneaded the gristle in her shoulders. ‘You always were easy to ruffle if you weren’t sure of your status.’  
‘My status was your partner, but you seemed to forget that.’  
His hands slipped lower, caressing her breasts through her shirt. She turned to kiss his stubbled cheek. ‘Now that I have been without you too many times, I can see that I was about to make the first biggest mistake of my life. But you saved me.’  
She stood up and leant in to him for a kiss. ‘Again.’  
He pulled her in for a deeper kiss. ‘Why are you wearing a suit, Scully?’  
‘I thought you loved me in a suit?’  
He chuckled. ‘I’d love you in a butcher’s apron with desert boots, but you’re wearing too many clothes.’  
‘Mulder, we have a child in the house now. We can’t just fuck in the study when we want.’  
‘He won’t know.’  
‘That’s not the point.’  
He nuzzled her neck and her nipples tightened. It really wasn’t the point. But she couldn’t remember what the point was because he was rubbing himself against her ass and it felt like heaven.  
The door opened and a flash of light exploded around them. William held the camera in front of him, wearing a grin that was a mixture of delight and horror.  
‘Sorry! I thought I was going to catch Mulder hunched over the desk researching. I’m doing a project where we have to provide a single photo that summarises our parents’ lives. A sort of character study.’ He looked at the camera then swung it round to show them the screen.  
His arms were around her chest, her hands over his forearms. She was formal. He was casual. She was buttoned up. He was open. She was leaning at an awkward angle. He looked like he’d been interrupted. Like he was about to tell someone to fuck off. But the way he was holding her. The setting. Their one-ness.  
‘Sorry,’ William said again. ‘I’ll delete it.’  
‘No,’ she said. ‘Use it. It’s perfect.’


End file.
